


honey come put your lips on mine (and shut me up)

by ladybex



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Ben, Ben Solo hates public transportation, Ben and Poe are childhood friends, Ben is a TA for Luke, F/M, Fate intervenes and our couple meet on the bus, Flirty Rey, Fluff, Humor, Prompt Fill, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 14:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14620662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybex/pseuds/ladybex
Summary: It would have been better if there hadn’t been any free seats, because then he could have stood and been able to freely appreciate the very pretty woman he happened upon when the bus door opened for him, without being a total creeper.Of course, fate had other ideas, and the only free seat on the whole bus was next to this absolute vision who was studying a stack of notecards and completely oblivious to the fact the seat next to her was the only empty one on the whole bus.Ben wordlessly slid into the seat next to her and did everything in his power to concentrate on his phone screen. He most certainly did not check out this girl’s sun kissed legs, or the freckles across the bridge of her nose, or think about how small her hands were compared to his, definitely not, because that would be weird.





	honey come put your lips on mine (and shut me up)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jeeno2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeeno2/gifts).



> title: lyrics from "Talk Too Much" by COIN

Being incredibly tall always had its advantages as far as Ben Solo was concerned.  
  
By the time he was 13 he towered over his mother, and while that didn’t keep her from being legitimately terrifying, she couldn’t grab him by the ear or whack him on the back of the head without him bending down to allow it, so in his youth he took that all as a win.  
  
Around the age of 17 he matched his father in height, and hearing Han grumble about having to look up at his own son while speaking with him was music to his teenage angst-ridden self.  
  
Ben’s height really was his favorite feature for the longest time, because while he wasn’t able to blend in completely, at least it distracted people from the parts of himself he disliked, namely his ears and nose and face in general.  
  
It really wasn’t until he went away to college that he realized the thing he always like most about himself was actually _the worst_ part of his entire being, and it only became apparent when the only way to get off campus as a freshman to go on a Target run was by _public transportation._  
  
Sure, the bus was more convenient than anything else, but he would kill to have been allowed to keep his dad’s run-down _Falcon_ on campus with him that year, rust spots and all.  
  
He swore to himself that he would _never_ take the bus again after his freshman year was over and he was finally allowed to have a car on campus.  
  
***  
  
“What do you mean it’s going to be two days before I can get her back? It’s the _Falcon_ Poe, this thing is older than dirt and it’s always miraculously passed inspection,” he explains to his roommate and current mechanic over the phone an hour before he has to be across town and at the university.  
  
He’s in the first year of his graduate program and is a TA for an art history class taught by none other than his uncle, Dr. Luke Skywalker, and is loath to call him up to ask him for a ride.  
  
“Sorry buddy, but the old girl is sensitive and the part I needed was on back order,” Poe tells him as Ben releases a frustrated sigh.  
  
“It’s the final for the class I TA for Luke today. Is there any way you can bring your truck back over here, and I could drop you off at the garage before I head to campus?” he asks in a plea of desperation.  
  
“Normally I would, but I lent my truck to Finn and his girlfriend Rose. They are moving a friend of theirs out of student housing and into the spare room at their place today while this girl sits her finals. You can always call up Luke you know,” his roommate offers, and Ben can hear the shit eating grin his childhood friend is wearing.  
  
“I’d rather be handcuffed to Hux and forced to chew my own arm off to escape than to call Luke and ask him to pick me up. He’s been telling me for years it’s time to put the _Falcon_ out to pasture, as if he and my parents didn’t get up to some crazy shit in that piece of junk in their day.”  
  
“You just called her a piece of junk Ben, maybe it is time to let go,” Poe offers with a chuckle.  
  
“It’s _my_ piece of junk thanks, and it’s what I have to deal with until I finish this graduate degree and can afford something nicer, so I’ll deal with it,” he says as he pinches the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to hold off the headache he can already feel coming.  
  
“You can always take the bus. There’s one that runs from the stop outside the complex to the right near your building. I took it that time I locked my keys in the truck and also locked myself out of the apartment and had to come get the spares from you.”  
  
Yep, that’s definitely a headache he feels coming on.  
  
“Fuck, fuck, fuck. I hate the bus, there’s never enough space and it’s too loud and people always stare at me,” Ben grumbles as he starts gathering the few things he will need for his afternoon on campus.  
  
“You can always call Luke,” Poe reminds him in a sing song voice.  
  
“Fuck you Dameron. I gotta go, it seems there’s a bus I need to catch,” Ben says before ending the call and grabbing his bag before he making his way out of the front door.  
  
***  
  
It would have been better if there hadn’t been any free seats, because then he could have stood and been able to freely appreciate the very pretty woman he happened upon when the bus door opened for him, without being a total creeper.  
  
Of course, fate had other ideas, and the only free seat on the whole bus was next to this absolute vision who was studying a stack of notecards and completely oblivious to the fact the seat next to her was the only empty one on the whole bus.  
  
Ben wordlessly slid into the seat next to her and did everything in his power to concentrate on his phone screen. He most certainly did not check out this girl’s sun kissed legs, or the freckles across the bridge of her nose, or think about how small her hands were compared to his, definitely not, because that would be weird.  
  
Instead, he focused on making himself as comfortable as he could on the hard-plastic seat he was currently sitting in and tried to read over the email Luke had sent him about the final.  
  
After ten minutes it was useless really, because his knees were already screaming at him for being kept at a weird angle so not to touch a complete stranger any more than necessary and his toes were on pins and needles because of the lack of circulation in his blood stream.  
  
If he moved, just a little, he could alleviate all the aches his body had built up and probably survive until they got to his stop outside of the history department. He just needed to move very subtly as to not knock into the woman who is engrossed in her notes for some final she’s undoubtedly about to take.  
  
So of course the moment he goes to move the bus comes to an abrupt stop and his subtle movements suddenly turn into him half crashing into the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen on public transportation.  
  
“Oh, oh my god. I’m so sorry. I’m really not trying to take up your space or be like a weirdo and try to feel you up or anything I swear to god. I just have really, really long legs and was trying to get comfortable when the bus came to a stop,” he babbles as he locks eyes with the girl beside him as they detangle themselves from each other.  
  
“No worries. You’re fine, really. Feel free make yourself cozy, looks like we’ve hit some traffic,” she says with what sounds like a hint of a British accent and a blinding white smile.  
  
“You’ve got to be kidding me, I have a final to go give,” Ben groans as he looks out the front window and sees that the pretty British girl is in fact correct.  
  
“I’ve got a final to go take,” the nameless woman says as she holds up her notecards and gives him a little shrug.  
  
“I do not miss undergrad days. I’m Ben, by the way,” he introduces himself with an offered hand that the younger woman takes immediately.  
  
His hands dwarf hers in just the way he imagined they would, and his mouth goes dry when he thinks about what other parts of his anatomy would make her hands look so small, like the pervert he is.  
  
“Rey,” is all she offers after she takes her hand back, and Ben notices the slight reddening of her cheeks.  
  
They sit in companionable silence for a few minutes before the bus starts again, and Ben is relieved when he realizes he will be on time to give the exam despite the delay.  
  
As they approach the history building, Rey packs her notecards away and hikes the loose cardigan she is wearing up and around her bare shoulders, before she leans back and closes her eyes before exhaling loudly.  
  
“What, uh, what are you doing?” he asks before he even really has time to think about how he’s being a little weird again.  
  
“Mentally preparing myself for this killer final I have. The professor is pretty cool, but his TA is kind of intense at times and I have to center myself before class,” Rey tells him with her eyes still shut as the bus pulls into the stop in front of the history department.  
  
“Well, um. Good luck Rey,” Ben offers with a small wave as he pulls himself out of the seat he’s in and makes his way down the steps of the bus.  
  
The final starts in ten minutes, and the students will be allowed in the room in about five, so he doesn’t have the time he normally does to get ready for class but considering its just the final exam he doesn’t have much to do except make sure everyone gets their scantron sheets on their way to their seats.  
  
One by one the class files in, and Ben doesn’t even look up from his desk as the students sign in on the attendance sheet and pick up their scantron sheets before making their way to their desks. Luke arrives, finally, a whole minute late and pulls out a stack of exams that he says covers all the information covered this semester, but that no two tests are the same.  
  
It’s kind of a dull affair for the next hour as the students take their exam, until slowly his desk starts filling up with exam sheets and scantrons and students are scribbling on the sign out sheet and headed towards either another final or freedom for the summer.  
  
He doesn’t even notice the post it note at first, despite the name and number scrawled across it, not when the sheet is put on top of the pile at least. Then he hears her clear her throat and his eyes shoot up from whatever exam he’s already reviewing to lock in on Rey.  
  
“Rey? You’re uh, in this class?” he manages to stammer out, because he does not remember a single student named Rey and he’s done Luke’s attendance all semester.  
  
“Rey is my nickname, but as you’ll see here, Rachel Niima has been in your class all semester Mr. Solo,” she says with a cheeky grin.  
  
“So, I’m the intense TA huh?”  
  
“Uh huh.”  
  
“And you have to mentally prepare yourself to deal with me?” he asks point blank, feeling like an idiot because this girl was his student and he never realized it and he was thinking about her hand around his dick only an hour ago.  
  
“Well yeah. At first, I got easily distracted by you in here, and I almost dropped the class because it would have been way easier than wanting to jump my TA all semester, but then I realized what all I would be missing out on,” she says shyly, her face growing redder with each word.  
  
Ben is pretty sure his brain has short circuited at this point.  
  
“I um, I… uh…”  
  
“I’m not your student anymore Ben, it’s okay if I say I want to jump you,” Rey laughs as he tries to gather his thoughts.  
  
“I would offer to take you up on that, but my car is in the shop and I live on the other side of town. Which you know, because we sat on the bus together, and I’m a fucking moron,” he finishes lamely as she continues to laugh.  
  
“It’s okay, my friends Finn and Rose are picking me up. I’m sure they would give you a lift as well. You could come hang out with us, I just moved into their place today, which is why I was on that bus too.”  
  
“Wait. Finn and Rose? Do you happen to know an asshole named Poe Dameron as well?”  
  
“Poe? Oh yeah, he lent us his truck today so I could move my stuff out of campus housing. I’m guessing you know him, since you called him an asshole,” Rey says as he packs up his bag and tucks the post it note with her phone number on it in his jeans pocket.  
  
“Roommate. We’ve known each other since we were kids,” he offers as an explanation as he leads her out of the door and locks it behind him so Luke can come and gather the exams when he’s done with the exam for his other class that’s happening right now.  
  
“Well hey, I guess that makes me your new neighbor,” Rey says with a little hip bump as they make their way down the hall and out to where Finn and Rose should be waiting.  
  
“Uh no, pretty sure you’re looking for the word girlfriend there Rey, because after I let you jump me tonight, neighbor is just not going to be enough for you,” he says with as much charm as he can muster, totally prepared for this to backfire immediately.  
  
Instead, Rey surprises him by pushing him into the wall and wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips into his.  
  
His reaction is immediate, he feels himself smiling into the kiss as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her flush to him. It’s chaste, innocent really compared to all the things he was trying not to imagine on the bus earlier, and when they pull apart she’s wearing the biggest smile that matches his own.  
  
A horn blares in the distance, which causes them to jump apart and break into nervous laughter. Ben reaches across and grabs her hand before they head down the path towards Poe’s obnoxious orange truck, and he sees his best friend hanging out of the drivers side window, waving at them as if they don’t already see them.  
  
“How do we explain this to them?” he muses as he gestures to their linked hands.  
  
“Well, I’ll just tell them that you’re the incredibly hot TA I’ve been crushing on since the start of the semester and you’ll tell them you spent the whole bus ride over here checking me out, and now that you’re officially not my teacher, we can do something about all the sexual tension.”  
  
The look she gives him is 100% serious and he’s not totally sure what he’s about to be getting himself into, but it’s bound to be interesting at least.

**Author's Note:**

> I've started a Reylo side blog on Tumblr, forcebondbensolo, where I'm taking prompts and flexing my writing skills for this ship! 
> 
> My main tumblr is bex-xo :)
> 
> Tweet me at @bexbex_xo :) 
> 
> please let me know what you think??


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